Dr. Laodong Guo, professor in the School of Freshwater Sciences, was honored with a UWM Office of Research Senior Research Award at the Fall Awards ceremony on October 25, 2023 at the Zelazo Center.
“Laodong Guo’s research spans the field of aquatic biogeochemistry – from the cycling of natural organic matter and phosphorus to the environmental behavior of emerging contaminants, such as microplastics and per- and polyfluoroalkyl, or PFAS, substances. A major scientific contribution has been his work on the remobilization of organic carbon from the Arctic permafrost and the biogeochemical response to environment change in northern, high-latitude regions, which is the fastest-warming region of the globe.
More recently, Guo has launched studies into the fate and transformation of microplastics and PFAS in aquatic environments. His research group combines field studies and control laboratory experiments in their studies to provide an improved understanding of formation pathways of nanoplastics and the interactions between PFAS and natural organic matter in the environment.
Guo is the most published member of the school’s faculty each year, with well over 200 publications and more than 14,000 citations. He has been rated as the best earth scientist at UWM in 2023 by Research.com, which used data compiled from OpenAlex and CrossRef in December 2022.” – from UWM Report